Taylor Swift fans have been ecstatic for the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. While many fans have been praising Swift’s new music, others have been critical. In fact, Taylor Swift has been facing backlash from some fans that believe a few specific song lyrics “can’t be real.”
It’s been one of many different surprises since the new album dropped. Partially because it turns out that The Tortured Poets Department is actually a double album. This means the new record contains as much as 31 total songs.
As for the song generating the controversy, it happens to be the 23rd song on the album titled “I Hate It Here.” The song, as described in the lyrics, references “a game where we could pick a decade we wished we could live in instead of this,” something she and her friends used to do as kids.
The controversial moment happens with the following bit:
“I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists / And getting married off for the highest bid / Everyone would look down ’cause it wasn’t fun now / Seems like it was never even fun back then / Nostalgia is a mind’s trick / If I’d been there, I’d hate it.”
It’s the lyrics, “I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists,” that appears to have caught the most attention online from Taylor Swift fans. Here are some of the responses from social media users after they’d listened to the song:
y’all.. there are so many wrong things about this pic.twitter.com/NW8hPDlDNP
— (@ghostijn) April 19, 2024
Also she’s not even good at history. Why the 1830s??? That’s such an arbitrary time period to make this supposed point about romanticism. Maybe a decade like the 1920s I could understand because that gets romanticized a lot, but the 1830s???
— Ava Marie♿️⚢ (@ava_marie_v) April 19, 2024
Taylor Swift in the 1830s https://t.co/6SiSIKY3hx pic.twitter.com/Ga7IvG9t3j
— Ruth Bitches Ginsburg (@peytonpearson) April 19, 2024
the whole new taylor swift lyric dowsnt make me mad because of the “without the racism part” but because why the 1830s if u wwent back in time shit has to be like 1950s and after or like to like the start of civilization cos atleast theres some interesting shit in both of those
— ^ (@star_piIot) April 19, 2024
why did taylor swift have to choose the 1830s of all decades the fuck even happened then
— rain (@darkendfog) April 19, 2024
My interpretation of Taylor Swift wanting to live in the 1830s has to do with the lack of environmental regulations and how economical it’d be to run a private jet.
— Sam (@sampagnepapi_) April 19, 2024
i, too, wish taylor swift lived in the 1830s
— homodox thinker (@woodcut_beavis) April 19, 2024
Ultimately, whether listeners can believe the lyrics are real or not, they definitely are. As is the album The Tortured Poets Department, which as of this writing, is breaking all kinds of records as users buy the album and stream the music on platforms including Spotify.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Taylor Swift and her career as we have them. For now, it looks like The Tortured Poets Department is still another hit for the popular star, even if some of her lyrics have been deemed controversial.